Fountain of youth

We are a few steps closer to unlocking the fountain of youth and apparently the secret garden is in our own cells. Actually in our mother’s cells to be precise.

Research has been published in the newest edition of The American Naturalist which reveals that a small set of genes in mitochondria passed only from moth to child plays a more dynamic role in predicting life expectancy than known before. The mitochondria are deceptively simple cells, the power cells that deliver energy throughout the body.

The study is based on research done with a beetle species called Callosobruchus maculates. “What we found in these beetles that some combinations of mitochondrial and nuclear genomes confer long life in virgin females, but these are not the same combinations that result in long life in females that mate once or in females that mate many times,” Dr. Damian Dowling of Monash University reported. Does it surprise anyone with children that having them reduces your lifespan? I digress.

“As we unravel this complexity, we draw closer t the day in which we might use the genetic information encoded in the mitochondria to assist in the development of therapies that slow the onset of ageing in humans,” Dr. Dowling continued.

To understand the simple beauty of the mitochondria, compare it to other cells. Most nuclear genome, passed from both parents, contains 14,000 to 40,000 proteins. The mitochondrial genome contains only 13. Highly specialized and grossly underestimated.

“Our finding are part of a much broader research agenda in which we are elucidating the ways in which mitochondrial genomes have shaped our evolutionary past and present. What we are finding is that natural variation in this diminutive genome results in a huge range of effects on metabolism, mating behavior and reproductive biology, including male fertility,” Dr. Dowling said.

“We suspect that this genome still harbors many more secrets awaiting discovery.”

Source: Megan Gidley/Monash University